bearisgray

How cooperative - or not - is the rest of your family in getting rid of the "stuff" that is being stored?

Where have you been sewing now?

Have you considered having a set-up/kit like people take to retreats and bring that to your current sewing area?

And then consolidate all your sewing "stuff" in that room? Maybe use that for your cutting and pressing area?

Where is this room in relation to the rest of your home?

For years and years, my sewing machine was in the corner of our kitchen/eating area, and my ironing board was a more-or-less permanent fixture there. I actually got more done - back then when the kids were little - than I do now where all my stuff (and I do have a loooooot more stuff now than I did then) is downstairs.

origamigoldfish

The big problem with the stuff is that most of it belongs outside, or to family members who have passed on and their children live out of state. I plan on giving all of the stuff that doesn't belong to me or my parents to the appropriate people during the winter holidays (or getting permission to get rid of it as I see fit). Sometime after harvest, the plan is to tear what's left of the barn all of this stuff was from down, and put a shed back where it was. When that happens, I will have the entire room, minus a shelf unit for our home canned food that is too big to go into a closet or the pantry.

This room is across a small hallway from my bedroom, away from the other bedrooms and living areas in the house. Up until now, I have always sewn on my kitchen table, or on the desk in my bedroom. The desk is too high and there's not enough legroom for a higher chair. Sewing on the table causes a lot of family drama. Nobody can hear their television, or their computers, or their phones when I'm sewing. Somebody always gets tangled up in a cord, or I forget to plug a favorite lamp back in after putting the iron away. Someone came to the door and they were ashamed because my project was on the kitchen table and made it look cluttered for their guests. It's kind of silly, but it would bring a lot of peace to the home for me to be able to run my machine in a room that actually has a door that closes. For the sake of family harmony, I have to get off the kitchen table, and my shoulders won't take the desk much longer. I have tried to be patient, but I need to get into that room now, not six to eight months from now when all of the stuff is gone or back outside where it belongs.

I am planning on covering the last shelf unit and using it as a design wall like everyone suggested, and hanging a shoe organizer off one end for my notions. If I can, i will hang onto one more shelf for storage. I don't worry much about outgrowing the space. I have everything I need at the moment to make things at my current skill level, and it will easily fit in there, even with the small space I have now and not the space I will have next year.

I just need a table and a chair, and a way to organize my stuff where it is all at hand. Does anyone use one table for everything? I am thinking about setting up a table, putting my machine in the middle, my cutting mat to the left when I'm not sewing, and my pressing board to the right. Notions can go in a drawer unit beneath the table, and my bin of fabric will slide under one of the shelves. The cutting mat and rulers can slide on top when not in use. The ironing board already sits nicely between a few of the shelves when it is folded flat. I just won't have room to open it and have my table and chair all in that space at once.

bearisgray

It would be nice if there was a sewing machine that did not make noise while it was being used.

AprilM

Origamigoldfish... my heart aches for you 😢 sometimes its hard for non-quilter family members to understand the process and how much quilting feeds our soul. We live a world where everybody could use a little “time out” now and then to center and rebalance. Your family probably doesnt realize that you need to “do your thing” just as they are allowed the time and space to unwind with their phones, tv, etc.

I know your arent complaining, but girl you need a little space and peace of your own! I know that when i started quilting in 1993 after my Beloved Dad passed away suddenly at age 63 of a massive heart attack quilting soothed my soul - even though i really had no skills to speak of then. In fact, i didnt even have a sewing machine! DH knew my sorrow and grief and surprised me with a new portable White Jeans Machine in hopes of feeding my passion and starving my sorrow. It was quite a process, but after some time and patience a quilter was born.

Ok, so we had only 2 bedrooms - one for us and one for our 2 teenaged boys... so no hopes or dreams of a sewing room. The dining room table was it for a long, long time. If i sewed i had to drag everything out and then put it away again so that we had a place for meals! I’m hearing the “oh yes i remember” from many here! And the noise of my machine... oh my goodness - the trusty White Jeans Machine was heavy and built to last inside and out! But i truly believe that it pounded fabric into submission rather than actually sewed it. Somehow we all made peace with it - my DH didnt understand it at all other than it made me happy, so it must have been ok! I still laugh when i remember him admonishing the boys at times , “dont bother your Mom right now - she’s knittin’!” LOL! 😘

A few years later we felt we had finally saved enough to build a new house - nothing big, but 3 bedrooms and a place in the country on 3 acres. We did a lot of work ourselves (we were younger then!) and somehow it all came together. The “boys” were still home - one a senior and the other a sophomore in high school. But... still no sewing room or a place of my own that i didnt have to share a couple times a day because we had to eat! We survived and eventually i got a new, quieter sewing machine that i could use at night without bringing the house down and making the dogs bark (yes, they did!). 😊 Meanwhile, my skills grew and so did all of the resulting Quilters Paraphernalia - c’mon, you all know the stuff! One of the sons left the nest in 2009 - but most of his stuff still remained for a few years - so still no sewing room. The remaining son decided that he wanted to switch rooms now that his brother did not occupy the room with 2 windows... we moved everything around but still not enough to give Mom her space.

When the last son left us with an empty nest somehow it was hard to just “take over” either of their rooms. Little by little my “knittin’ stuff” migrated to one of the rooms although i still sewed at the dining room table. Eventually, we just came to the realization that i should take the room with the 2 windows for my sewing room! It was a kinda haphazard arrangement for a few years and admittedly kinda messy and unorganized. But my dream was the “Lilac Happy Place” that i posted the photos of recently. I had a dream (even though my DH’s nightmare was the lilac walls that could be seen from the livingroom!). I am 63 now and my dream has finally come true - and God willing i will spend a good share of my retirement years in my Happy Place!

Origamigoldfish... i tell this story to encourage you. Sometimes it just takes a long time and then another long time being a work in progress, but i truly believe that anything worth having is worth the wait (sometimes just for everybody else to finally get on the same page)! You will find your way a little at a time through everybody else’s stuff and your place might just materialize in the process! Kinda like - gee, maybe we should move all of Mom’s sewing garbage into that room now... hey, girl - seize the moment if it comes - occupy first then decorate! LOL!

Sorry... seems my words always get a little too wordy!

origamigoldfish

First off, thank you for the encouragement!

It is not as bad as it seems, l promise, lol. I tend to stay off the kitchen table unless I am actually quilting something, so that keeps the complaints down. I just get discouraged when my relaxing time is spent setting up and tearing down, and not actually doing the thing that I love.

The strange part is most of the complaints come from a former quilter, the lady who taught me how to quilt in the first place. As long as I keep my machine off the table, she is more than supportive of my hobby. She goes with me to fabric stores, spends hours poring over the quilt magazines I bring home, and even bought me the machine she likes to complain about! I am trying to coax her into trying it again,this new one is much easier to use than the old beast she had when I was a child. We actually still have all of her old pattern books and her small fabric stash in the room already. The interest is still there for sure, and I think having the machine somewhere she can just sit down and play with it at her leisure will help.

I am sooo tempted to steal the new shed this winter and make my own sewing and living space out of it, but I just can't figure out how to get the riding lawnmowers through our tiny doors to the storage room!

amyjo

[ATTACH=CONFIG]617790[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]617791[/ATTACH]Here are the pictures I was telling you about origamigoldfish if you want this let me know I used to have all my little notions in it til I got my originalscrapbox

amyjo

Boy they sure r big pics

origamigoldfish

I think I have something similar, amyjo, although mine is a bit bigger. It's got all of my quilting magazines in it, and it slides perfectly under the bed. Something that size would be handy for keeping dust (and pet hair!) off my threads and the like though. I will keep an eye out for a smaller version!

amyjo

This one has sides that open plus the top n has dividers for little items n 12” blocks as working on. That’s fine I just thought I’d offer it to you since you said your stuff was all over the house

thimblebug6000

I have read through the posts and haven't seen any suggestions for a fold down ironing board.... maybe google that... it could be a great space saver for you...... My Mom had one (very old) that came down just over the table....